Toronto Hankook Ilbo

Through the experiment

The question of whether animals can infer logically like humans has long stimulated the curiosity of scientists. Recently, creative experiments for various animals such as monkeys, pigeons, and fish have been followed, and the complex reality of this problem has been revealed.

One of the concepts that scientists pays attention to is the transition inference. This is a way of thinking that A is better than B, and A is better than C, and A is better than C. If Team A beats Team B in the basketball tournament and Team B beats Tim C, people naturally judge that Team A is stronger than Team C. This logical reasoning is considered to be a human ability, but research has shown that various animals can think in a similar way.

In the laboratory, the experiment was conducted by showing animals different image pairs and feeding them by selecting the right image. The hand photo (A) is the priority over the classroom photo (B), the classroom B is before the bush (C), and in this way, the highway (D) and the glow (E) are followed. Afterwards, I presented an image pair that I had never seen before, observing whether the animal chose an image of a higher ranking, and this process confirmed whether he learned the order between images.

Surprisingly, monkeys, rats, pigeons, as well as fish and wasps have successfully performed this task. This is interpreted as evidence that they have more than just conditional reflections.

But not all logic tasks are the same. There is another experiment with a similar name called Transitivity. This task asks if A is connected to B and when B is connected to C, he can derive the relationship between A and C. This is different from the previous implementation reasoning and requires the ability to recognize the equal relationship between a given object or the category.

For example, if you present a white triangle (A1) and choose a red rectangle (B1), you will be rewarded. Subsequently, when the red rectangle B1 is presented, a white cross (C1) is selected to reward the reward. Afterwards, if you present the white triangle (A1) and give the white cross (C1) and the white circle (C2) as an option, the animal is considered to have performed trend.

However, many animals often fail in this task. Despite the success of the previous implementation reasoning task, this task tends to consider the white triangle and the white cross as not related at all. The researchers said that additional evidence is necessary for whether the two tasks measure the same cognitive ability.

Animals can also infer logically like humans, but the way of thinking depends on the type of assignment. Unstop

The fact that these two similar tasks can actually require different cognitive processes have an important meaning in understanding human thinking as well as animals. Psychologists apply these experiments to humans and analyze human reasoning and cognitive structures based on the results.

For example, when a person chooses almond milk, brand A is darker than B, and if a friend says that brand C is thinner than B, A is better than C. This is a performance reasoning. On the other hand, both brand A and C have a label called ‘Barista Blend’, and they can consider the two products as similar quality even if they do not taste. This is a category -based transit thinking, which is different from the previous reasoning.

If the experimental method used by researchers can actually induce different thinking processes, it should not be assumed that they measure the same cognitive ability. In particular, these challenges are also used for research such as autism spectrum, brain damage, and reduction of cognition due to aging.

Whether you are an animal or a person, the fact that you have the right answer does not know how it reached the right answer. The researchers still continue experiments to distinguish and understand this process, which has more than a simple experimental result.

www.koreatimes.net/ Weekly Korea

Park Hae -ryun intern reporter (press3@koreatimes.net)